


Bad Blood

by Katherine_Queen_Of_Hell



Series: There's A Hole In My Soul [3]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-20 01:36:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14250258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katherine_Queen_Of_Hell/pseuds/Katherine_Queen_Of_Hell
Summary: Delaney agrees to help MacCready take out Winlock and Barnes, but things go amiss during the fight.





	Bad Blood

They'd been travelling for weeks when MacCready finally felt comfortable enough with Delaney to tell her about his past with the Gunners and his recent trouble with the duo, Winlock and Barnes. She'd expressed her worry over the situation and offered her help, her experience in combat to him. Rather than accept it straightforward, he just told her if that she was really interested in helping and she had the time, she head over to the Mass Pike Interchange and help him take out Winlock and Barnes. If not, he wouldn't hold it against her. 

 

Delaney insisted that they head out straight away. She’d packed up their camping supplies, put out the fire, and checked and reloaded her weapons before they took off walking. He explained to her on the way there that if they took out the entire station, which was more or less a base to lay low in for the Gunners, it would make the others think twice about trying to cut off his business and she wholly agreed, seeming genuinely concerned. To be honest, it surprised him. 

 

Once they'd reached the interchange, Delaney took a moment to give her favorite weapon, a modified gauss rifle, another once over before she pulled on her old army helmet and covered her mouth with a flag print handkerchief and ran for the elevator, gun blazing. Before he could react, she was already heading upward into the overpass. MacCready swung his gun off his back and followed after her. 

 

He called the elevator back down and rode it back up, the sharp twang of ricocheting bullets and dreadful hum of laser rifles making his body jump uncontrollably with panic. At the top, MacCready stepped off the lift and looked around. Most of the Gunners had been dispatched. Barnes and the last few Gunners were exchanging fire with Delaney at the far, crumbling end of the overpass. Winlock was nowhere to be seen among the living or the dead. 

 

MacCready decided setting up his temporary nest the skeleton of a burned-out bus was probably the best option rather than running out and getting both he and Delaney killed. The bus provided a sturdy barrier between MacCready and the surviving Gunners as he picked them off. But, the bus couldn't protect him against the sudden burning pain in his gut and the bubbling of blood in his throat. 

 

He choked, the sound inaudible over the gunfire, and went limp, falling against the burned and rusted out frame of the bus. Winlock stood over him, lips stretched over yellow teeth in the form of a sneer, and a bloody knife dripping gore in his hand. 

 

“You knew this would bite you in the ass, MacCready,” he chuckled, squatting down and running his thumb along the edge of the blade. “I have to thank you, though. That girl's got a bounty on her head and it's about time someone collected it. Here's your share.” The Gunner reached up and took hold of MacCready’s sandy hair, knocking his hat away. Winlock placed the bloody knife against MacCready's throat, clearly itching to drag it across and shred his trachea and arteries. 

 

A shot rang out at the last second and Winlock collapsed, the back of his head spurting blood, Delaney standing behind his now convulsing form with her 10mm in hand. MacCready could barely see her, his vision blurry and fading quickly with blood loss. 

 

“Mac?” She'd said, her voice straining with panic. “Mac, stay with me…” He heard her dropping to her knees beside him and the sound of her rifling through backpack. “I’ve got some stimpaks in here somewh--” 

 

MacCready blindly reached out for her, hands latching onto her arm to stop her. “No,” he ground out, tasting blood in his mouth and feeling it run down his chin. Pain like nothing he'd ever felt flared in his stomach as he pulled her closer, strength draining. “Listen… gotta tell you… tell you something…” 

 

“MacCready, I've gotta get these stimpaks into you. Then, we gotta get outta here.” She drew her arm away and started searching for the medicine again. 

 

“My son,” he started again, ignoring her persistence. From the amount of blood rising in his throat, MacCready knew he did have too much time left. “...Lives in the… Capital Wasteland… Whitechapel Charlie's g-got some caps I've saved for him… tell him to… to…” He trailed off unintentionally, eyes fluttering and head lolling off to the side. He briefly felt Delaney shaking him then everything went completely dark.

 

Somewhere in the back of his mind, the agitation of not being able to finish what he wanted her to know lingered; what he's been desperate to tell her since she picked him up in the Third Rail. 

 

He didn't get to tell her… that he loved her. 

***

MacCready woke up to the sound of birds singing softly and the sound of dirt being turned. But, what surprised him the most, was the fact that he had actually returned to consciousness. 

 

He tested the limits of his near fatal wound, stretching this way and that within reason. It still ached and made his stomach churn with the movement, as most torso wounds have done to him, but it was sufferable. 

 

MacCready swung his legs over the were of the mattress and looked out the window, seeing old pre-war railroad tracks outside. He remembers this place. They'd passed it on their way to the interchange and Delaney had pointed out that the settlement, consisting of a pair of sisters, was protected by the Minutemen. She was their General, he knew, but be had no idea they'd gained so much in such a short amount of time. Last he heard, they were practically dead, disbanded and astray. 

 

He slowly made his way to the door and leaned against the frame, trying not to aggravate his wound anymore than he has to. His vision clearer, he could see Delaney sitting in front of the water spout, an old rusted gear in her hand. She's changed out of her vault suit and light armor, replacing the tight cobalt blue with a pair of jeans and an old flannel shirt. The sisters are at work in their garden, weeding and planting their next crop.

 

Delaney scrubbed the rust off the gear with a wad of steel wool and fit it back into place. Then, she stood ans cranked the handle, water flowing from the spout, clear and crisp. She smiled at her handiwork and wiped the oil from her fingers. Her mahogany brown hair shone in the sunlight, the individual curls red in the rays. 

 

Her gaze tracked up to his and she smiled, nodding at the observing sisters before she made her way up the stairs to him. “Hey. How’re you feeling?” She asked, voice like bells in his ears. 

 

“A hell-- a lot better. Listen… I want to thank you for taking out Winlock and Barnes. Business will be a lot better from now on, and…” He removed a bag of caps from his pocket and passed them to her. “Here. You were one up on me and now we're even.” 

 

“MacCready, I don't need this back.” 

 

“I insist. Please.” 

 

She smiled again and rolled her eyes, leaning forward and kissing his cheek. When he recoiled, surprised, she simply said: “ You talk in your sleep. And, yeah, I love you, too.”


End file.
